On the water road again, heading towards Savu. Stopped on the way at an island for a surf. Nice small righthander, got a few waves, screwed up a perfect one, my (still very weak) paddle strength gone.
Back on the boat one of the guys caught a fish. Oh man, it took ages to get the (big) fish out of the water. Everybody gathered to see the spectacle. And then, the fish escaped from the hook, but luckily (for us) didn’t manage to jump back into the water. Our dinner saved 🙂
Joy and I went to the very rocky island for a little walk later in the afternoon. Or better: hopping from stone to stone. It was a bit of a scary atmosphere there I have to say. We felt a bit uncomfortable, images of people-eating people arising in our minds. So we never lost sight of the boat. But nothing happened. No magic, no bad people, no monsters or ghosts.Before heading to the next spot, which was a long way from this one, Skipper Joachim offered us another session on the outer reef. It looked wild. The guys looked at it and decided to stay on the boat. Joy and I gave it a try. Paddling was a torture, the currents super strong, but we made it eventually. So, there we were. Sitting in the line-up, feeling uneasy, but still eager to surf. And what happens? The first set arriving was a freak set, and a U-shaped one in addition, so Joy and I were surrounded by a U-mountain of waves and paddled and duckdived as if our life would depend on it. After that we had enough of adrenaline and headed straight back to the boat, being welcomed by a cheering and laughing crowd. We were the heroes of the day.
After another night crossing, we arrived at the spot we wanted to go. But unfortunately, the wind was too strong which means unsurfable waves. So we had two options: Hiking on a close by island or going straight to Sumba. The majority was for hiking, so that’s what we did. A very good decision indeed. Just imagine: Shimmering blue crystal clear water, pitch black rocks, lush forests and green grassy hilltops. We had to climb some rocks first, then find our way through the forest, Joachim always first making sure no spiders or snakes will be in our way. After that, a leisure stroll through the knee- to waist high grass until the top. What a splendid view we had. I think this is the most beautiful hike I have ever done in my whole life. There’s nothing comparable. A paradise island! A dream!
Some of the guys were a bit cranky because we didn’t have good waves for a while. So we had a few small arguments. But all negativity was forgotten as soon as we arrived in Sumba. A perfect, big righthander was awaiting us. All the guys had good fun. Joy cracked her nose. I just got washed over and over again to the point I actually started crying I was so super frustrated. Was in a horrible mood the whole evening.
Got a beautiful, long, big wave the next morning and the world and my mood was perfectly good again, even though I still got a few big sets on my head. Went to a different spot in the next bay later in the afternoon. A small lefthander, good fun. Then a sunset session back at the morning spot. The swell dropped off and we enjoyed some fun small waves. Alex, the Belgium guy, looking like the biggest tourist, joined us with a Stand up paddle. We were all really scared of his big plank and his obvious lack of ability to handle it so we sent him to the inside. Dome joined him. Alex lost the SUP board and had to look for it in the rocks (in the dark) and finally, after more than an hour, found it again. Dome got scratched over the reef and was full of bloody scratches. So much about surfing the inside. Hahahaha. We treated Domes wounds and cheered for Alex when he finally came back with the lost board. Dinner: Spaghetti Bolognese with Parmesan cheese. What an awesome day
In general, the food on the boat is absolutely top of the top. Absolutely amazingly delicious. Biggest breakfast with homemade bread (yes, they baked bread on the boat), pancakes, omelettes, cereals, etc., big salads with the best sauce, different curries, veggies, avocado, fruits, tons of nutella, pringels with homemade guacamole, fresh fish right from the ocean (grilled red snapper, tuna sashimi), homemade (or better: boatmade) chocolate banana cake, and much more.
Next day, cause the swell dropped off even more, we went to a beachbreak not far away from where we were and had good fun in the small waves. We also had a big toilet problem because the current was sometimes carrying our “floaters” right into the lineup. Oh well. It can’t be all perfect right?
Went to the beach after the session, doing some more exploring. We first wanted to walk on the jungle-path, but decided to go the other direction. We ended up walking through a shallow muddy river. Ah, it’s such a disgusting feeling to walk through mud, feeling the mud between your toes, never knowing how deep it is. We were sometimes waist deep in the river mud. I don’t know why, but whenever I have to walk through mud or muddy water, I think of dead bodies floating around somewhere down there and me stepping on one. Absolutely disgusting. I’m even shuddering when I’m writing this. Just the memory of it utterly disgusts me. I wasn’t the only one. Except for our Skipper, who is a real adventurer, I could read the same feelings in everybody’s face. After the river, we walked along the beach again, through flaring heat and finally found another path into the woods. After a few steps into the forest and some wild attacks from big horseflies we fled back to the beach and gave up on our exploring trip. All we wanted was going back to the boat. After that, we went back to the bay we came from and stayed there for the night. In the late afternoon, Joy and I went to the beach with our Skipper to find some fresh water for our tanks. We passed a beautiful small beach with a cave and went exploring a bit, were sitting there and enjoying the nice scenery. Then we went to the next small bay with a river. Because the river was half dried up, the fresh water pond was quiet a bit in the back. We brought all the tanks there, filled them up and brought them back to the Dingi (I think, one tank must weigh about at least 20 kg) Joachim just put a canister on his shoulder, Joy and I dragged them through the sand. It was a good piece of work. A lot of sweat and a bit of swearing later, all the work was done and we treated ourselves with a swim in the fresh water, watching sunset.
Suddenly we realized that low tide has gotten quiet low and that we have to hurry back to be able to get back to the boat and not get caught up in the reef. The water was already too low to use the engine so Joy and I had to paddle while Joachim stirred the boat. We just made it in time. There was one critical part where a set came in and we just – really just – perfectly made it through a gap into deep water. Saved!
Back on the boat the cooks were preparing the most delicious dinner: Grilled red Snapper and fresh tuna sashimi. There’s nothing better than a freshly caught fish!
A lot of adrenaline for one day. But again: A beautiful day full of good moments!
… to be continued …
Kim Faraway 